I-40 in western NC could be closed for four months

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11/4/2009

Drivers who normally use Interstate 40 in extreme western North Carolina can plan on being detoured more than a hundred miles out of the way. The highway, which is closed in both directions, is unlikely to reopen anytime soon.

Persistent rain has slowed down efforts to remove a 150-foot rock slide at mile marker 3, and state DOT officials are now saying it could be four months before the interstate reopens.

Mike Patton is a state DOT technician overseeing the work. He told the Asheville Citizen-Times that there are “rocks still waiting to fall that are extremely large and pose an extreme danger to anybody or a piece of equipment below the slide location.”